Date: Sun, 7 Sep 2014 11:42:29 -0400
From: Joe Gerstner
Subject: My 2 cents on the Obesity Director
I am astounded that apparently the most pressing issue in Chatham County is the lack of an Obesity Director. Since the goal of this position is to increase the level of fitness within Chatham County, shouldn’t the position be titled Fitness Director? But maybe Obesity Director is the correct term as a position like this only causes local governments to remain obese.
For those that support the Obesity Director could you please provide three detailed examples of how this position will tackle obesity in Chatham County? I am sure one of the examples will be related to the school system. But don’t the schools already have nutritional support staff? More importantly, could you please tell us exactly how the success of this position will be measured? Will the county establish weigh-in locations outside of grocery stores, fast food joints and Walmart? Will kids get a BMI grade on their report cards? Will this just be another government program that will be funded without knowing if the program is accomplishing anything other than consuming valuable tax dollars? Or, as with most government programs, no impact will be observed so the solution will be to spend even more tax dollars.
I have the pleasure of picking-up my kids from school. Over the years, I have seen far more kids who would benefit from an extra hamburger or two as compared to the number needing to visit a salad bar. I just don’t see the obesity epidemic in our schools. I’ll admit that my sample size is limited to PHS, PMS and Northwood.
Here’s a personal story. When my son was in 4th grade (that means he was 10!!!) at PHS, he received his end-of-year fitness report in an unsealed envelop. Being the curious kid he is, he opened the envelop and read the report. His BMI was high and all he could say was that he was fat. Way to go school system, crush a kid’s self-esteem and create a body-image issue where there was none. You know what I did about it. Nothing! I threw the report away and let nature take its course. Two years and multiple growth spurts later, you would now probably describe him as skinny. This is just an example of the government pushing itself where it doesn’t belong and why we don’t need the Obesity Director.
Joe